25 years is a long time to be doing anyone’s makeup, including my own! I’ve watched entire product categories come and go. Products I loved got discontinued, formulas changed, trends swapped out every few months. Through all of that, there are five products that never left my kit. Not because I’m loyal for no reason, but because nothing else has actually done the job better.
I’ve used more products professionally than I could ever list, on shoots, on brides at 6am, on myself on the days nobody’s watching. When something survives that many years and that many different faces, it’s not hype. It’s just a product that works. Some of these have changed over the years but only to something that works even better than the last. You’ll find the links to all the products later in the newsletter, but let me first explain why they work.
1. A concealer that doesn’t crease by hour 6
On a wedding day or a 12hour shoot, concealer has to hold up under lights, tears, and sweat without settling into every line by lunch. Most don’t. The ones that do share the same thing, a formula that sets soft instead of cakey, with enough pigment that you’re not layering three coats to get coverage. I reach for the same one every single time. I’d suggest letting it semi-dry a little first and then buff in with a damp sponge. If you dampen the sponge with a setting spray first, even better.
2. A setting spray that actually holds up
I stopped trusting setting sprays that just smell nice and don’t do much else a long time ago. A good one keeps everything in place through a long day without leaving skin looking stiff or plastic. On set, that’s the difference between makeup that lasts through 12 takes and makeup that needs touching up every twenty minutes. But it’s not just for setting makeup, in fact there are not many that actually do help to set makeup. I personally rely on setting sprays to help fix makeup in between layers and to dampen my sponge.
3. A cream blush instead of powder
Cream blush blends into skin instead of sitting on top of it, which matters more the more texture your skin has. It looks like your own flush instead of makeup, and it works on every age, however I reach for it even more on mature skin, because powder blush tends to grab onto texture and highlight it instead of hiding it. It’s pretty easy to get cream blush wrong. Some cream blushers that are meant to give a matte finish can look cakey on the skin and actually dry out the look of the skin. You want something that doesn’t stay too ‘wet’ (unless you’re after that look) on the skin and leaves a soft blurred finish.
“Twenty-five years is a long time. Only a few things actually earn a permanent spot.”
The last two aren’t makeup at all. They’re the two skincare products I’ve used the longest, the ones that quietly do more for how my makeup looks than anything I put on with a brush.
